There are hundreds of posts to similar problems, but I really don't know where I fit in with my problem. Did I mess up my system using force in the first trial? I had /var/lock and /var/run as symlinks already before trying the update.

All I know is be very careful with removing files and folders from /var after a failed up date. As it appears as the attempted failed update can produce a sym link that links to your root folder. So if you use rm -rf * from within /lib - your whole hardrive will be removed instead of only the files in /lib.

I had made a copy of the lib folder, and clearly read each and every file listed, nothing showed as a link. Yet there was something that directed that command to the root of all folders.

All I know is be very careful with removing files and folders from /var after a failed up date. As it appears as the attempted failed update can produce a sym link that links to your root folder. So if you use rm -rf * from within /lib - your whole hardrive will be removed instead of only the files in /lib.

Sometime I really wonder if I'm up to ArchLinux, there is quite some help, but so many recipes, and I often feel uncomfortable to just apply something I don't understand at all.